Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Chilling Might Have Been, 9 Jan 2005
The basic principal behind this book is to explore what might have happened if the German army had invaded in 1940.
The book is split into three parts, the first details the background of the situation as it was in the early summer and the plans the government was making to repel a potential invasion. We also see what preparations the Germans were making and how their plans shifted from an invasion along the East Coast to an invasion along the whole South Coast then down to the Essex/Kent coastal region.
In the middle section we have the most speculative part of the book, covering the invasion itself. By the nature of the book, Mr. Longmate has the Germans winning a substantial victory, with the RAF destroyed and most of the Royal Navy home fleet sunk. When operation Sealion is brought up on the soc.hist.what-if newsgroup the concensus of opinion is that if it had been attempted it would have failed horribly. The Royal Family had fled to the Bahamas (not Canada - the Canadian government could not accept having their king actually in the same country and it wouldn't have gone down well with their powerful neighbour to the south).
Despite Hitler's desire to take Churchill prisoner, Winnie and General Brooke went down fighting leaving no one to offer their surrender to the Germans. There is a rather stirring description of the Royal Family's retreat to exile, making one realise how much more patriotic the whole nation was then.
Although hardly less speculative in the specific detail, the final section of the book looks at how Britain would have felt under Nazi rule based on what happened in other occupied countries, in particular the Channel Islands. Longmate also looks at the plans the Nazis actually had for this country if they really had invaded (we laugh at some of the petty details that European law kicks up now and then but the Nazis were equally detailed and they would not have worried as much about public opinion!). Longmate reckons that the Nazis would have had serious problems finding enough suitable Quislings to build a puppet government to the degree that they would have to impose some form of direct rule. Rather interestingly he reckons that such apparently obvious allies as Sir Oswald Mosely would have refused to co-operate with the invaders. Probably correctly, he suggests that the Empire on its own would not be powerful enough to retake Britain and that America's first target would be North Africa.
He is hopeful that Britain would retain its basic nature even under a lengthy occupation. I have to wonder about this for the Germans would have had control of the education system for virtually a whole generation.
Over all though, this is a thought provoking book.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What if.........., 15 Mar 2006
By A Customer
'If Britain had fallen' is a study in alternate history; namely, what would have happened had the war taken a different turn and the Nazis invaded the UK. The book is divided into two parts. The first deals with a fictional scenario concerning the invasion - how the Battle of Britain was lost, the Royal Navy was unable to deny use of the Channel to the Germans, and the subsequent land invasion. If you watched and enjoyed the recent TV show 'The Real Dad's Army' you will find this extremely interesting as the content is very similar. The second part is a study of what the German occupation would have been like. This is essentially an extrapolation from real history, based on knowledge of what happened both on the Channel Islands and Mainland Europe. Its is slightly dry in places but very informative. In general, I thought this was an excellent book; it covers the subject in depth without getting bogged down in tiny details. Some parts of the 'story' Longmate invents, such as Churchill's last stand, are really quite emotive. It is only recently that the real "What if..." story can be fully told as some of the material relating to the county's defence remained classified for a long time. Also to many people who lived through those times, it was still almost heresy to suggest that we could ever have lost. Now that time has passed the subject can be examined more objectively. In summary I thoroughly recommend it - it is a frightening look at how things could have happened. Although the war took a terrible toll on Britain, this book serves as a reminder that it could have been far worse. War is often remembered through geography, in place names telling us where battles were fought and atrocities committed. Think how different it would feel today if those names had been on British soil.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating alternative history, 23 Jul 2004
The question 'what if' Germany had invaded the British Isles has long preoccupied writers, but none have dealt with the subject as comprehensively and effectively as Norman Longmate. Based on a classic television film of the same name, If Britain Had Fallen covers every phase of the subject, from the German pre-invasion manoeuvring and preparations, the landing of troops, to the German seizure of power. What follows is a fascinating contemplation of what it would have been like to live day to day under German occupation, creating a new reality that is thoroughly believable and thus all the more frightening. What would have happened to the King and the Government? Would America, Canada or Australia come to the rescue? Would the British people have come to accept the occupation? Would the deportation of friends, the flying of the swastika from Buckingham Palace incite passive compliance, or brave resistance? All these questions and more are explored to their full in this thought provoking and chilling pastiche of the centuries most enduring and darkest episodes. All in all an absorbing and astonishing account of how Britain's war might have been.
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